Polskie Ogorki

Arriving in Kraków in the drizzly dark at a sketchy bus station Kraków exudes all the charm of a box of used sweat sox.   Our mood was brightened considerably by a friendly and helpful cab driver. 

Awaking to a nice healthy breakfast and a bit of rain we started exploring.  It didn't take long to totally change our first impression.  We cut through a seminary to the Old Town Square and were blown away.  Kraków started drawing us in almost immediately.  We started off our tour at an amazing statue commemorating the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 where the Poles defeated the Teutonic Knights (read Germans), a big point of Polish pride.  In 1939 it was the first thing the Invading Germans tore down.   In 1945 it was the first thing the Poles re-erected.

Walking past the Barbican, a fort defending the main gate we entered the Old Town.  We stopped at Jama Michalika (a coffee shop) opened in 1895 and has not been significantly updated since.  The walls are decorated by art students back in those days who couldn't afford to pay their bill.  A real experience.  Further down the street we stopped at Staropolskie Trunki (Old Polish Drinks) to sample a mess of different vodkas.  A little early but still yummy.  

On to the main town square where the Saturday market was in full swing, as well as a movie (it might be movie video) was being filmed.  Into St. Mary's Church.   We are running out of awe-inspiring descriptive adjectives so we'll just let you see the photos.  On the hour a trumpeter (a fireman) plays the hejnal, which at the first Tatar invasion was a warning.  Unfortunately, at least for the trumpeter back then, half way into his warning he took an arrow in the throat.   So even today, symbolically, the trumpeter stops abruptly mid song.   

Continuing to wander we stopped at St. Francis Basiclica, the home church of St. John Paul II.   As he was a Kraków native son he has become, aside from being a saint, the most beloved and famous Pole.   This is reflected in numerous memorials to him around Kraków.  

We needed to get train tickets for our next leg so one hour later, having endured the slowest bureaucratic process known to man, we headed back to our B&B.  

It was laundry time again, so we headed to Frania Café, the most civilized idea we've seen yet.  A laundromat in another subterranean cellar where you can chill and have a beer or coffee whilst doing your laundry.   Back to a main Town Square for a dinner in an outdoor café.